System for managing a group of dairy animals

ABSTRACT

A system for managing a group of dairy animals to be milked fully automatically, where the dairy animals go through a lactation cycle comprising phases of calving, inmilking, producing milk, and being dry. The system includes a computer executing program instructions for recording information and processing data indicating a division of the group of dairy animals into subgroups of a plurality of dairy animals, an insemination period determined per subgroup within which the dairy animals of the subgroup concerned are to be inseminated, which insemination period is so short that substantially all dairy animals in the subgroup concerned go simultaneously through the lactation cycle, and a separation of pregnant dairy animals of at least one of the subgroups in a separate area, around the beginning of the being dry phase of the subgroup concerned. The system also includes at least one milking robot for automatically milking the dairy animals, operatively connected to the computer for receiving first instructions from the computer for milking the dairy animals in the non-separated subgroups, and second instructions from the computer for milking the dairy animals in the separated subgroup in the separate area.

This application is a continuation of international application no.PCT/NL2007/000238, filed on Sep. 24, 2007, and claims priority fromNetherlands application no. 1032611 filed on Oct. 3, 2006. The contentsof both applications are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system and method of managing a groupof dairy animals to be milked fully automatically.

2. Description of the Related Art

Dairy animals go through a lactation cycle that comprises a number ofphases. Calving is at the beginning of the lactation cycle. By calvingand the pregnancy preceding the calving the milk production in an udderof the dairy animal is started. Calving is followed by inmilking, orstarting up the milk production, in the beginning of which phasecolostrum is produced. This is a transition to a phase of producingmilk. During the latter phase, a dairy animal will be inseminated again,provided it is still in a proper condition for this purpose. At the endof the phase of producing milk, the milking is reduced and the dairyanimal will be dry during some time in preparation of the next calving.

In a generally known method, dairy animals are milked fullyautomatically by means of a milking robot during the phase of producingmilk. Prior to calving, a dairy animal is separated from the group.

The current method of managing a group of dairy animals has the drawbackthat the dairy animals that are dried up disturb the production processaround the milking robots.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims at providing a solution for theabove-mentioned problem, or at providing at least an alternative.

This object is achieved by the invention with a system for managing agroup of dairy animals to be milked fully automatically, where the dairyanimals go through a lactation cycle comprising phases of calving,inmilking, producing milk, and being dry. The system includes a computerexecuting program instructions for recording information and processingdata indicating a division of the group of dairy animals into subgroupsof a plurality of dairy animals, an insemination period determined persubgroup within which the dairy animals of the subgroup concerned are tobe inseminated, which insemination period is so short that substantiallyall dairy animals in the subgroup concerned go simultaneously throughthe lactation cycle, and a separation of pregnant dairy animals of atleast one of the subgroups in a separate area, around the beginning ofthe being dry phase of the subgroup concerned. The system also includesat least one milking robot for automatically milking the dairy animals,operatively connected to the computer for receiving first instructionsfrom the computer for milking the dairy animals in the non-separatedsubgroups, and second instructions from the computer for milking thedairy animals in the separated subgroup in the separate area.

The system may include a first milking robot operatively connected tothe computer for receiving first instructions from the computer formilking the dairy animals in the non-separated subgroups, and a secondmilking robot for automatically milking the dairy animals in theseparate area, the second milking robot operatively connected to thecomputer for receiving second instructions from the computer for milkingthe dairy animals in the separated subgroup.

In some embodiments the second instructions received by the at least onemilking robot may be for milking the dairy animals of the separatedsubgroup at a decreasing frequency in order to dry up the dairy animalsof the separated subgroup. In some embodiments the second instructionsreceived by the at least one milking robot may be for milking the dairyanimals of the separated subgroup at an increased frequency duringinmilking. The system may also further include a selection robotoperatively connected to the computer for automatically separating thepregnant dairy animals of the at least one subgroup.

The computer may record information and send instructions to the atleast one milking robot indicating placement of the separated subgroupout of the separate area after being dry and calving. The computer mayrecord information and send instructions to the at least one milkingrobot indicating separation of at least one of the subgroups from thegroup until at least after the inmilking, and may record information andsend instructions to the at least one milking robot indicatingseparation of at least one of the subgroups from the group during afirst part of the lactation cycle after calving in which the milkproduction increases, and milking at a higher frequency than dairyanimals in the rest of the group. Furthermore, the computer may recordinformation and send instructions to the at least one milking robotrelating to classification of dairy animals of a subgroup which have notbecome pregnant after insemination into an other subgroup in order to beinseminated again together with the dairy animals of this othersubgroup.

The invention also relates to a computer usable medium having computerreadable program instructions embodied therein for recording informationand processing data, and for issuing instructions, as defined for thesystem described above.

The invention also encompasses a method of managing a group of dairyanimals to be milked fully automatically, which dairy animals go througha lactation cycle comprising phases of calving, inmilking, producingmilk, and being dry. The method includes dividing the group of dairyanimals into subgroups of a plurality of dairy animals, determining persubgroup an insemination period within which the dairy animals of thesubgroup concerned are inseminated, which insemination period is soshort that substantially all dairy animals in the subgroup concerned gosimultaneously through the lactation cycle, separating all pregnantanimals of at least one of the subgroups in a separate area, around thebeginning of the being dry phase of the subgroup concerned, fullyautomatically milking the dairy animals in the non-separated subgroupsby means of at least one milking robot, separately milking the dairyanimals in the separated subgroup, and placing the separated subgroupout of the separate area after being dry and calving.

Thanks to the inventive method steps, each subgroup of dairy animalsgoes more or less simultaneously through the lactation cycle. Byseparating in each case a subgroup when this subgroup is about to bedried up, dairy animals of this group are prevented from reporting at amilking robot at their customary moments. In the method according to thestate of the art, the milking robot will recognize the dairy animalconcerned as an animal to be dried up and will not allow it to enter themilking robot. This results in delay for dairy animals that should stillbe milked. This delay is prevented, or at least reduced, thanks to theinventive method.

Favorable embodiments are also provided. In particular, at least one ofthe subgroups, after calving, remains separated from the group at leastduring the inmilking. This makes it possible to separate the colostrumin a simple manner from the normal milk.

More in particular, the at least one subgroup, after calving, alsoremains separated from the group during a first part of the lactationcycle in which the milk production increases, and is milked at a higherfrequency than dairy animals in the rest of the group. This makes iteasier to increase the milk production and to give extra attention andadapted feeding that is attuned to the specific needs of the subgroupconcerned.

In one embodiment, dairy animals of a subgroup which have not becomepregnant after insemination are classified into an other subgroup inorder to be inseminated again together with the dairy animals of thisother subgroup. It is thus prevented that there will still be dairyanimals having an individual lactation cycle, which animals would haveto be managed individually.

In a favorable embodiment, the separated subgroup is milked fullyautomatically by means of a separate milking robot, which milking robotis controlled to milk at a decreasing frequency in order to dry up thedairy animals of the separated subgroup. This means that less manpoweris needed to look after and to support the subgroup to be dried up.

Advantageously, the subgroups have mutually a substantially equal groupsize. This makes it possible to design and utilize the shed sizes in anoptimum manner.

The invention further relates to a software program comprising programinstructions for processing data and providing information forperforming the inventive method, when the software program is loaded ina computer. The invention further relates to a computer. In particular,the computer is operatively connected to a milking robot that isdesigned to milk the dairy animals of the separated subgroup, whereinthe computer supplies instructions to the milking robot in order to milkthe dairy animals of the separated subgroup at a decreasing frequency.In one embodiment, the computer is further operatively connected to aselection robot, in order to automatically select and separate dairyanimals belonging to the subgroup to be separated, from the group.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is explained in further detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings of an exemplary embodiment, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a dairy farm;

FIG. 2 shows a calving shed from the overall view of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart for a method according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The following is a description of certain embodiments of the invention,given by way of example only and with reference to the drawings. In FIG.1 a dairy farm as a whole is denoted by reference numeral 2. The dairyfarm 2 comprises at least one production shed, in this embodiment fiveproduction sheds 4. The dairy farm 2 further comprises a separatecalving shed 6 and calf sheds 8. The production sheds 4 and the calvingshed 6 are provided with milking robots 10 for automatically milkingdairy animals, in this embodiment cows. The production sheds 4 and thecalving shed 6 are further provided with boxes 12, water tanks 14 andfeed troughs 16.

In this embodiment, the production sheds have a capacity ofapproximately 500 cows. Also the calving shed has a capacity ofapproximately 500 cows, to which belong both the cows that are dried upand the cows that are meantime in the process of inmilking. There isthus obtained a total capacity of 3,000 cows. In the calving shed 6 maybe provided separate areas, such as a drying up area 18, a calving area20, and an inmilking area 22.

In FIG. 1 the possible displacement routes of cows in the dairy farm 2are indicated by arrows. Arrow 30 indicates that cows may be displacedfrom one of the production sheds 4, so not necessarily the indicatedproduction shed, to the calving shed 6. Arrow 32 indicates that cows maybe placed back to one of the production sheds 4, which production shedmay be an other one than the production sheds from which the subgroupconcerned has been taken. Arrow 34 indicates that cows may be displacedfrom the drying up area 18 to the calving area 20. By arrow 36 it isindicated that, after calving, cows may be led back to the drying uparea 18, or the possibly provided separate inmilking area 22. It isindicated by arrows 38, 40, 42 that calves, in particular heifers, areled along separate areas into the calf shed 8.

One embodiment of the method according to the invention is shown in FIG.3. The method starts with a number of steps that are in principleperformed once, prior to the other steps of the method. It should benoted that these steps to be taken once may be performed again in eachcase as soon as heifers are added to the group of dairy animalsproducing milk.

In a first operational step 102 a group of dairy animals, in particularcows, is divided into subgroups. Since there may be a plurality ofgroups of animals within one farm, also the term ‘main group of animals’will be used hereinafter. In this case there is a relation between thetotal group size, the average subgroup size, and the number ofsubgroups. It is aimed at giving the various subgroups a comparablegroup size. The subgroup size depends on the size of the capacity of thecalving shed and on the period of time a subgroup spends in the calvingshed (see hereunder). In this embodiment, the average subgroup size is130 cows.

In step 104 an insemination frequency is determined for the whole(sub)group of cows. This insemination frequency determines when in eachcase a subgroup of the main group is inseminated. This insemination ofthe cows of a subgroup subsequently takes place within a particularinsemination period. The insemination periods of various subgroups ofone main group do not overlap each other. In particular, theinsemination periods of various subgroups of one main group areseparated by a period of at least one week, in which period inseminationdoes not take place. In particular, the period in which inseminationdoes not take place is at least equal to the insemination period. Ofcourse, inside one farm there may be a plurality of (main) groups, eachmain group being divided into subgroups. Subgroups of separate maingroups may be more or less parallel to each other, it being possible forthe insemination periods of subgroups of different main groups tooverlap each other or to be contiguous to each other.

The insemination frequency depends on a chosen duration of the lactationcycle. A whole lactation cycle lasts approximately one year, but thisvaries per type of cow and also depends on the development, inparticular the reduction of the milk production by the end of thelactation cycle. The number of subgroups is divided by the chosenduration of the lactation cycle. In this embodiment is opted for a totallactation cycle of one year, a division of the total group into 20subgroups and thus for an insemination frequency of 20× per year.Preferably, this frequency is substantially equally distributed over thelactation cycle duration, which means inseminating 1× per 18 days asubstantially whole subgroup (step 106). The insemination lasts a fewhours to not more than a few days, in particular less than five days,more in particular less than three days, more in particular one day.Related to the duration of the lactation cycle the insemination periodis so short that it may be stated that all cows in a subgroup areinseminated substantially simultaneously. As a result of such a shortinsemination period, substantially all cows in the subgroup concerned gosimultaneously through the lactation cycle. Only cows with whichinsemination does not lead to pregnancy, do not go through the lactationcycle simultaneously with the other cows of the subgroup. Thesenon-pregnant cows are removed from the subgroup concerned and are addedto a next subgroup that will be inseminated.

The cows in the production sheds 4 are milked fully automatically instep 108 by means of the milking robots 10. Depending on theirproductivity, the cows concerned may be milked, for example, 3× daily bymeans of a milking robot 10. A few weeks prior to the average calvingmoment calculated for the subgroup, a subgroup is taken collectivelyfrom the production shed 4 concerned and is led to the calving shed 6(step 110). This moment may be three to eight weeks before the expectedcalving moment. Compared with the state of the art, collectiveseparation of the subgroup may cause less workload for the supportingpersonnel than in the case of individual separation of dairy animals.

Advantageously, a whole subgroup stays in the calving shed during theentire drying up phase. This means that both the period of reducing themilking frequency and the period in which no milking at all takes place,are spent in the calving shed. This has the advantage that cows that arestill being milked, but to a lesser extent than they are accustomed to,will not continue to hang around at a milking robot 10 in theirproduction shed 4 and thus prevent access to the milking robot forhigh-productive cows. In the calving shed 6 it is possible for thesubgroup of cows to be dried up to obtain collectively extra attentionand adapted feeding.

After the subgroup has been dried up (step 112), at any moment the firstcows of a subgroup will calve. The spreading over time of the wholesubgroup will be approximately 13 days, because the gestation periods ofindividual dairy animals may differ mutually and because the choseninsemination period is not an infinitely short period, but may cover,for example, a period of one to a few days. This means that at asubgroup size of 130 cows, on average 10 cows will calve daily. Sinceall dairy animals in the separated subgroup will have to calve at anymoment, it is simpler to establish when the calving moment is so nearthat possible further measures may be taken for the animal concerned,such as extra attention and/or individual separation.

After the subgroup has calved (step 114), the calves will be separatedfrom the subgroup (step 116). Bull calves will subsequently be bred formeat production, often outside the dairy farm. Heifers may be bred inthe calf sheds 8 until a moment when they will be added logically (butnot yet per se physically) to a subgroup, be inseminated together withthe other cows of the subgroup, and be physically added to the subgroupconcerned around the beginning of the drying up phase.

After calving, the cows concerned of the subgroup will be inmilked (step118). Advantageously, this inmilking still takes place in the calvingshed, so that it is possible to milk at an adapted frequency. It is thusalso possible to separate the colostrum obtained in order to be able tofeed it to the youngest calves. After the whole subgroup has beeninmilked, a period of a few weeks follows in which the milk productionof the subgroup concerned is increased (step 120). In this case, it ispossible to milk at a higher frequency than in the case of the otherproduction cows, for example 4× daily instead of 3× daily. This milkproduction increase might still take place separately in the calvingshed 6. This could also take place in a production shed 4 speciallydesignated therefore, in which case the production shed 4 concerned ispreferably provided with extra milking robots or at any rate arelatively higher number of milking robots with respect to the subgroupsize.

At any moment after calving the subgroup will be outplaced collectively.This outplacing may take place before inmilking, between inmilking andincreasing the milk production, or after increasing the milk production.There may also take place a plurality of collective displacements, forexample if there is a separate inmilking shed and/or a production shedspecially designated for increasing the production, as described above.When the subgroup of which the milk production is increased leaves thecalving shed, the area that has come free may be occupied by a newsubgroup that will be dried up (dotted line 121).

Nine months before the calving moment aimed at of the subgroup concernedthis subgroup will be inseminated again (step 122). Of course, this doesnot apply to cows for which it has been established that, in view oftheir age and/or physical condition, it will be their last lactationcycle. Advantageously, the subgroup concerned has been kept apart fromthe other milk producing cows until and included the moment ofinsemination, so that selection of the cows from the subgroup concernedand insemination of these cows is possible in a simple manner. Thismeans that, after insemination, in operational step 124 the subgroup isplaced back into the group of milk producing animals where it is milkedat a normal frequency of, for example, 3× daily by means of the milkingrobots 10 (just like the other, non-separated cows, operational step126).

Within the scope of the invention various variants are possible. Forexample, the method may also be applied to other animals than cows. Themethod may be applied using deviating capacities and to subgroup sizesof more or fewer animals. As a result thereof, the number of cowscalving daily will be different from 10. In an advantageous variant, thecapacity of the dairy farm is doubled by using two calving sheds andtotally ten production sheds. In that case, the calving sheds areprovided (viewed in the direction of the drawing) one above the other,the production sheds being located to the left and to the right of thecalving sheds. In that case, there will be a main group of dairy animalsper calving shed with, in this embodiment five, production sheds. Thismain group is classified into subgroups in the above described manner.

The method may be performed to a greater or lesser extent in anautomated manner. Dividing cows into subgroups and planning the momentswhen insemination, separation and displacement should take place, may berecorded in a database program. If desired, the program concerned may belinked to a system for recognizing cows, to robots for selecting anddriving cows, and to automatic gates between the production sheds andthe calving shed. Selecting cows and displacing these cows to thecalving shed may also take place manually. Milking the cows in thecalving shed, at the beginning of the drying up, and inmilking may alsotake place by means of an ordinary milking machine instead of a milkingrobot. In a simple embodiment, however, the method described could alsobe performed by means of a physical card tray.

Thus, the invention has been described by reference to certainembodiments discussed above. It will be recognized that theseembodiments are susceptible to various modifications and alternativeforms well known to those of skill in the art. Accordingly, althoughspecific embodiments have been described, these are examples only andare not limiting upon the scope of the invention. The person skilled inthe art will be able to apply various modifications and adaptationswithin the scope of the invention, the scope of protection for theinvention being determined by the accompanying claims.

1. A system for managing a group of dairy animals to be milked fullyautomatically, which dairy animals go through a lactation cyclecomprising phases of calving, inmilking, producing milk, and being dry,the system comprising: a computer executing program instructions forrecording information and processing data indicating: a division of thegroup of dairy animals into subgroups of a plurality of dairy animals,an insemination period determined per subgroup within which the dairyanimals of the subgroup concerned are to be inseminated, whichinsemination period is so short that substantially all dairy animals inthe subgroup concerned go simultaneously through the lactation cycle,and a separation of pregnant dairy animals of at least one of thesubgroups in a separate area, around the beginning of the being dryphase of the subgroup concerned; and at least one milking robot forautomatically milking the dairy animals, the at least one milking robotoperatively connected to the computer for receiving first instructionsfrom the computer for milking the dairy animals in the non-separatedsubgroups, and second instructions from the computer for milking thedairy animals in the separated subgroup in the separate area.
 2. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein the at least one milking robotcomprises: a first milking robot operatively connected to the computerfor receiving first instructions from the computer for milking the dairyanimals in the non-separated subgroups; and a second milking robot forautomatically milking the dairy animals in the separate area, the secondmilking robot operatively connected to the computer for receiving secondinstructions from the computer for milking the dairy animals in theseparated subgroup.
 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein thesecond instructions received by the at least one milking robot are formilking the dairy animals of the separated subgroup at a decreasingfrequency in order to dry up the dairy animals of the separatedsubgroup.
 4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the secondinstructions received by the at least one milking robot are for milkingthe dairy animals of the separated subgroup at an increased frequencyduring inmilking.
 5. The system according to claim 1, further comprisinga selection robot operatively connected to the computer forautomatically separating the pregnant dairy animals of the at least onesubgroup.
 6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computerrecords information and sends instructions to the at least one milkingrobot indicating placement of the separated subgroup out of the separatearea after being dry and calving.
 7. The system according to claim 1,wherein the computer records information and sends instructions to theat least one milking robot indicating separation of at least one of thesubgroups from the group until at least after the inmilking.
 8. Thesystem according to claim 7, wherein the computer records informationand sends instructions to the at least one milking robot indicatingseparation of at least one of the subgroups from the group during afirst part of the lactation cycle after calving in which the milkproduction increases, and milking at a higher frequency than dairyanimals in the rest of the group.
 9. The system according to claim 1,wherein the computer records information and sends instructions to theat least one milking robot relating to classification of dairy animalsof a subgroup which have not become pregnant after insemination into another subgroup in order to be inseminated again together with the dairyanimals of this other subgroup.
 10. A computer usable medium havingcomputer readable program instructions embodied therein for recordinginformation and processing data, and for issuing instructions, asdefined in claim
 1. 11. A method of managing a group of dairy animals tobe milked fully automatically, which dairy animals go through alactation cycle comprising phases of calving, inmilking, producing milk,and being dry, the method comprising: dividing the group of dairyanimals into subgroups of a plurality of dairy animals; determining persubgroup an insemination period within which the dairy animals of thesubgroup concerned are inseminated, which insemination period is soshort that substantially all dairy animals in the subgroup concerned gosimultaneously through the lactation cycle; separating all pregnantdairy animals of at least one of the subgroups in a separate area,around the beginning of the being dry phase of the subgroup concerned;fully automatically milking the dairy animals in the non-separatedsubgroups by means of at least one milking robot; separately milking thedairy animals in the separated subgroup; and placing the separatedsubgroup out of the separate area after being dry and calving.
 12. Themethod according to claim 11, wherein at least one of the subgroups,after calving, remains separated from the group at least during theinmilking.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the at leastone subgroup, after calving, also remains separated from the groupduring a first part of the lactation cycle in which the milk productionincreases, and is milked at a higher frequency than dairy animals in therest of the group.
 14. The method according to claim 11, wherein dairyanimals of a subgroup which have not become pregnant after inseminationare classified into an other subgroup in order to be inseminated againtogether with the dairy animals of this other subgroup.
 15. The methodaccording to claim 11, wherein the separated subgroup is milked fullyautomatically by means of a separate milking robot, which milking robotis controlled to milk at a decreasing frequency in order to dry up thedairy animals of the separated subgroup.
 16. The method according toclaim 11, wherein the subgroups have mutually a substantially equalgroup size.
 17. The method according to claim 11, wherein placing theseparated subgroup out of the separate area is followed by placing backthe separated subgroup into at least one non-separated subgroup.